Simona Cellar – Brand Designer – How embracing the learning process drives business growth

How embracing the learning process drives business growth

I’m addicted to learning. Or maybe it’s more an addiction of getting new information, learn new ideas of tactics or processes. But doing the actual learning is really hard and sometimes not fun at all.
A good example: I’m decent at playing Softball. I’ve also been doing it since I’m 12. Then, a few years ago, I started to get into Tennis. I still suck at it because I never stuck to putting in the time and effort to learning it.

I see similar patterns when it comes to learning in business. Although learning new skills is crucial to success, we often become impatient with it. We are surprised that it takes longer than we thought to learn that new thing, and we don’t want to waste our time on anything that doesn’t yield immediate returns.

This got me thinking: Why are we so impatient when learning as an adult? In this post, I’ll explore some of the reasons behind our impatience and discuss how we can overcome it.

We’re used to being in control as adults

As adults, we’re used to being in control. We’ve spent years building our careers, our relationships, and our lives, and we’re accustomed to being able to make things happen. It’s what makes us confident, by being good at something. But when it comes to learning, we’re suddenly in a position where we’re not in control. We have to rely on others to teach us, and we have to be patient as we acquire new skills. We also have to start at the complete beginning again. This loss of control and having to start all over again is frustrating.

We’re conditioned to expect instant results

We live in a world where everything is available at our fingertips. We can order food, clothes, and electronics online and have them delivered to our doorstep within hours. We can access information on any topic with just a few clicks. This instant gratification has conditioned us to expect immediate results in all aspects of our lives, including learning. When we don’t see immediate progress, we become frustrated and lose motivation.

We rush through the process

When we find out about that new thing, that we also should learn, we quickly start to feel like we’re behind. We think we need to catch up with others who’ve already mastered this skill. We also want to be ahead, so we rush through the learning process. Unfortunately, rushing hinders us to actually take the time to learn and practice all that new information needed to become good at that new thing.

How to overcome our impatience with learning

So how can we overcome our impatience when learning as an adult? The key is to shift our mindset. Instead of only focusing on the end result, we should embrace the learning process itself. We should approach each new skill as an opportunity to grow and develop, rather than a chore to be completed as quickly as possible.

«You think you need more information during learning, but you just need to do the learning and test yourself rather than look for more information.» – Ali Abdaal

We need to understand that learning takes time and effort. Practice is normal to learn something new. Long-term memory is built through repetition spaced out over many days. So, take your time and stop comparing yourself to others. You don’t need to catch up to anyone but yourself.

Embrace mistakes as part of the learning process. If we get used to failure and making mistakes, we also embrace the learning process. Expecting failure and living with it, gives us an ease of mind that things are exactly how they should be. This again gives us back our control and confidence.

So, how does the learning process drive business growth?

By understanding the learning process, you can stick to things longer and actually learn the things that are most important to you. You start to prioritize better, because knowing how learning is time-consuming, you will think twice about what you actually need to learn. You’ll weed out the unimportant stuff or delegate things to others in your business, so you can focus on learning things that align with what you are already good at.